“I love it,” Keri declared as she examined the blue-green earrings thoughtfully. “But my ears aren’t pierced.”
“Something we can fix pretty easily I’m sure,” I assured her with a smile.
“It doesn’t hurt at all,” Bridget offered as she slid one earring and then the other into her ears. “This color is perfect. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” I happily and eagerly accepted the affection of Valona’s daughters even though it wasn’t the Berryman I wanted in my arms. “Just wear them and use them well and I will be happy.”
“I love it all,” Bridget whispered in my ear as she squeezed the life out of me. “Fancy pie plates,” she sighed and gave me one last squeeze. “Thank you so much. So, so much.”
“I look forward to getting fat off your creations,” I told her with a smile.
Armed with new gifts, the girls ran back up the stairs, leaving me alone with Valona for the first time in more than a week. “Ready to tell me what I did to piss you off yet?”
Her brows dipped into a half-hearted version of confusion. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
This was the part I didn’t miss about having one special woman in my life. “So, you just stiffened in my arms and shied away from my kiss because you’re so happy to see me?”
She stiffened once again, then sighing to relax her long limbs. “What do you want me to say Trey?”
“You could start with the truth. I’ve been gone for a week and with every phone call you’ve grown more distant and quieter than you’ve ever been. I’d like to know why.” I resisted the urge to reach out to her, to offer any form of comfort, because that was obviously not what she wanted from me. I watched Valona carefully as tension returned to her body starting with her shoulders. She’d gained two inches of height as the tension took over and my heart sank. This was it, what she had been building up to. “I guess for some, absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder.”
“Trey,” she pleaded and reached out to me before remembering she was about to rip my heart out and returned her hands to her side. “I just don’t think this is going to work. The age difference is too big, and we’re at different places in our lives.”
I laughed bitterly and shook my head. “No, we’re not. Sure, there’s about a decade of years between us, but we’re both single parents of little girls about the same age. Or do you mean that you’re ready to get back to partying and sleeping around while I’m looking to settle down?”
“That’s not fair,” she shot back.
“Isn’t it?” I wasn’t in the mood to be fair. I’d fallen for this woman, hard, and she was so cavalier about dismissing what we have. Had.
“What if this is a reaction to your abrupt retirement?”
“It’s not, and I am damn well old enough to make my own decisions Val.” Her words ignited my anger.
“I know that Trey.”
“Do you? Because I was plenty adult enough to have sex with, but now we just won’t work. All of a sudden.” I emphasized the last word, because to me this all seemed out of the blue. “When I left for Paris we were fine, at least that’s what you said. What’s changed?”
“Me. I’ve changed Trey. Without your smile and your gentle encouragement lifting me up, I realized that we are just too different. And listening to you walking the streets of Paris, instead of being curious about what you saw Trey, I was jealous. I thought you were lying to me.” I could see how that admission cost her, but I wasn’t willing to make this easy for her, breaking my heart.
“Yeah, this might be hard for you to believe Val, but that came across loud and clear.” I folded my arms to prevent myself from shaking some sense into this frustrating creature.
She shook her head, long dark hair brushing her shoulders. “I can’t handle it Trey. I want to. I like you…a lot, but we’re not in the same point in our lives and I don’t see that changing.”
I shook my head again. “How in the hell do you know where I am in my life, Val? You never even asked me what I wanted, you just assumed that you’re older and wiser, so you must know exactly what I want.”
“It’s normal Trey.”
“Yeah? And it’s normal to get married right out of high school, right?”
“Well no, of course not. But I’ve been married and everything that comes along with that.”
“And that makes you an expert? You know that’s what I want despite all evidence to the contrary?”
“What do you mean?”
I sensed I still had a shot, and I went for it. “I didn’t have to retire, Valona. I could have hired a nanny to take care of Keri when I left for shoots and runways. I could have hired a full-time caregiver and continued on with my life, but I didn’t. I made the hard choice to leave my career because it was best for Keri.” Something I couldn’t quite identify flared in her eyes, but she remained silent.